DISTILLING DISTINCTION
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his story begins, as the best usually do, with good company kicked-back over a refreshing beverage. Lea and Bill Beckett, love birds with the good taste to adore the Tetons while sampling fine spirit, were looking out across one of the West’s most striking geographies when they wondered how best to develop a parcel of that beautiful, potato-rich land. They were sipping vodka at the time. Don’t potatoes make good vodka? Sometimes that’s all it takes. Launched in 2011, family-owned and -operated Grand Teton Distillery in Driggs, Idaho crafts beverage that has earned international acclaim, piqued the interest of Tinsel Town and, despite the pandemic-stricken landscape, continues to pop the bottle to new possibilities in craft distilling. Grand Teton Distillery, located on North Highway 33, is the 6,000 square-foot re-
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A tale of people, potatoes, and perseverance at Grand Teton Distillery. WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY P.M. FADDEN
sult of dedication, “green” industry and, of course, good spirit. Today it is steered by Lea and Bill’s sons, Andrew and John Boczar. “Here we produce the quality of spirit that, personally, we would want to drink,” said Andrew, vice president of Grand Teton Distillery, as he pointed toward the production facility where his brother John holds court as head distiller. “The goal here is a product as full-bodied as it is full-tasting.” The process behind achieving that goal is a dance, with steps both exacting and uninhibited. From the starting line of careful ingredient selection to the ac-
claimed finish of a beverage bottled by hand, the brothers Boczar and the Grand Teton family administer an operation which focuses upon local sourcing to form their mash, emphasizes patience for fermentation, trusts in meticulous distillation, and prizes purification through filtration, all to achieve calling-card personalization in the form of a final product. Said simply, solid lab technique peppered with “why not give it a shot” trial and error. “At our core we’re inspired by our environment,” Andrew said. “On top of that, experimenting together as a staff is fun.”
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